The importance of maritime communications in World War II is difficult to overestimate. Since 1939, the supply of troops, the delivery of military assistance, food, fuel, medicine and other strategic cargoes directly affected the ability of Great Britain to withstand the onslaught of Nazi Germany.
Since 1941, Lend-Lease deliveries to the belligerent Soviet Union have plagued Hitler, and he did everything to prevent the northern convoys on their way to Arkhangelsk and Murmansk. The most important role in this battle was played by the Luftwaffe aircraft and submarines of the Third Reich.
The role of submarines in the naval theater of operations was appreciated during the First World War. Despite the imperfection of the technical base, the main technical solutions that became the basis of modern designs were developed precisely then. After the defeat, Germany lost the right to possess a full-fledged navy, and in the subsequent years of economic stagnation was not up to him.
However, there were people who dreamed of a revenge. Erich Raeder, the hero of naval battles, and the admiral, who became minister after the scandalous resignation of his predecessor Adolf Zencker, in an atmosphere of secrecy, developed a program to revive the Kriegsmarine.
Submarines of the Third Reich officially entered combat duty after 1935. The Treaty of Versailles, with the connivance of the European powers, was invalidated, and its provisions could already be ignored. In the summer of the same year in London, Germany and the United Kingdom entered into an agreement abolishing tonnage limits for the German Navy.
Another event of 1935, which was not timely assessed by military experts: the submarines of the Third Reich entered the control of Admiral Doenitz. This talented naval commander, respected and loved by German sailors, will still create many problems.
By the beginning of World War II, all Reich submarines were divided into three classes: large (displacement of 600-1000 tons), medium (740 tons) and shuttle (250 tons). They were not numerous, in the kriegsmarine there were only 46 units. This did not bother Doenitz; he knew about the possibilities of German shipyards and realized that it was preferable to act with skill rather than number.
Already then 22 submarines were converted for long-distance raids. The German leadership understood the inevitability of a conflict with the United States, and was preparing to cut the sea lanes across the Atlantic. Subsequently, the 3 Reich submarines carried out bold operations near the East Coast.
The effectiveness of submarines in the initial period of the war is explained by the use of new tactics previously unknown and invented by Karl Doenitz. He himself called his underwater compounds “wolf packs”, and their actions fit into this image.
The naval blockade of the British Isles posed a direct threat to the very existence of the metropolis, not to mention its connection with the colonies. In the summer of 1940, 2-3 ships went to the bottom every day; in seven months, Doenitz submarines sank 343 units of the merchant fleet. In the post-war years, Winston Churchill regarded this situation as even more critical than the outcome of the air "battle for England."
The new acoustic and sonar equipment of American manufacture supplied to the fleets of Britain and the USSR helped to deal with the threat emanating from the depths of the ocean. Submarines of the Third Reich began to suffer serious losses, and the bearded Dozen wolves became something like Japanese kamikazes.
From 1939 to 1945, the German shipyards produced 1,162 submarines with an approximate total number of crew members of 40 thousand people. More than 30 thousand German submariners received a terrible death in their "iron coffins." On the seabed there were 790 submarines of Admiral Doenitz, who lost two sons and a nephew in this terrible war.